China's role in space is getting busier and busier, what with their recent announcement of the launch of the Nigerian satellite a couple weeks ago and all.
Earlier this week, China announced the launch of a lunar orbiter later this year, which will likely be followed by a manned mission to the moon.
However, on a more terrestrial note, the Middle Kingdom has announced today that it will joining the International Charter 'Space and Major
Disasters', "a joint initiative that works to provide emergency response satellite data free of charge to those affected by disasters anywhere in the world," according to an ESA press release.
That way China gets access to all the archival data, but also will use their current satellites to provide data to those of us who are Earth-bound in the case of a massive natural or unnatural disaster.
The more the merrier, eh?
*
Image Credit: ESA*
